By Jerrelle Guy
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus cooling and overnight chilling
- Rating
- 4(334)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Two spiced shortbread cookies are soaked with a little coffee, then layered with a light pumpkin whipped cream in this rich, elegant icebox cake. You don’t need to be precious with the cookies or the cream while preparing them — they're fairly foolproof — yet they come together into a stunning make-ahead dessert. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice but have a relatively well stocked spice cabinet, you can make your own homemade version (see Tip).
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:1 (9-inch) cake
- 1cup/230 grams unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
- 1½cups/190 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 2tablespoons pumpkin pie spice, plus more for sprinkling
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- 2cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
- 1¾cups/415 milliliters cold heavy whipping cream
- ½cup/4½ ounces canned pumpkin purée (not pie filling)
- ½cup prepared coffee, at room temperature
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter, 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and the salt. Beat on low speed until most of the sugar has been incorporated into the butter, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the ingredients are completely combined, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as needed.
Step
2
Turn the mixer off, add the flour, and beat on low, slowly increasing the speed until the flour is incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add ¼ cup of the heavy cream and beat on medium-high until the mixture is smooth.
Step
3
Divide the mixture between two 9-inch cake pans. Using damp hands, press the mixture into the bottom and to the edges of each pan to create a flat layer. (It doesn’t need to be perfect; any fingerprints will disappear during baking or get covered with whipped cream.)
Step
4
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the shortbread is deep golden brown. Remove from the oven, and, using a fork, prick all over with a fork while the cookies are still soft. Allow to cool in the pans for at least 30 minutes, then run a butter knife along the edges of the pans to loosen the cookies. Carefully invert the cookies onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
Step
5
Wash and dry the bowl of the stand mixer and set up the whisk attachment. Add the remaining 1½ cups heavy cream, ½ cup confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the bowl and beat on medium speed, slowly increasing the speed to medium-high and whisking until the cream is thick. Increase the speed to high and add the pumpkin purée 1 tablespoon at a time until the cream is stiff. (This happens quickly, so be careful not to overwhip!)
Step
6
Assemble the cake by placing one of the cookies on the serving tray and slowly spooning ¼ cup of the coffee overtop. Once the coffee has soaked into the cookie, add half the whipped cream mixture on top, spreading it to the edges. Repeat with the remaining cookie, coffee and whipped cream.
Step
7
Sprinkle the top layer of whipped cream with more pumpkin spice, and cover the cake loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the cake overnight — ideally a full 24 hours, so the cookies soften — and for up to 2 days before serving, for the best results.
Tip
- To make your own pumpkin pie spice, combine 2¼ teaspoons each ground ginger and cinnamon with 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, ½ teaspoon ground cloves and ¼ teaspoon each allspice and ground cardamom, or tweak to your taste.
Ratings
4
out of 5
334
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
C
Given how often the reviews mentioned how difficult it was to extract the cookies from the cake pans, I opted to use a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, which made removing the cookie in one piece an absolute breeze.
Bflnyc
Question, as an icebox cake, & of course homemade is best, why can’t this be done w real cookies & layered, like gingersnap (traderJ’s trips ginger are the best) or graham crackers or biscoff Or? Suggestions, & then make this middle, assemble & next day voila!
Zing's Mom
I made mine with a hand mixer. Everything turned out just fine.
judi
Just made this and put it in the fridge until tomorrow. It looks like it will taste fantastic. The whipped cream mixture is lovely! I did find it easier to brush on the coffee rather than spoon it, as it was starting to run off the cookie before it started to soak in. Also, I added a tablespoon of Kahlua to the coffee for a bit of extra kick. Question: what type of knife would you recommend to cut it so it doesn’t collapse while serving?
Spencer Richards
I found this recipe delightful. Satisfied everyone’s pumpkin craving since we are not pumpkin pie lovers. I found I needed more of the pumpkin whipped cream than was called for (I doubled)—not only to make elegant billowy swirls on top, but to have a little left over to spoon directly into my mouth. I also made my own pumpkin pie spice mixture (recipe found online)since I didn’t have Pumpkin Pie Spice, but I definitely had cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.
Allison Williams
Maybe I need extra help but I would have appreciated you noting to either use parchment paper or lightly oil the cake pan. I didn't and ended up with a pan full of crumbs and cookie pieces after scraping it out of the pan. Overall, I thought this was a goo but somewhat bland. Will waiting 12 hours really enhance the flavor that much? I hope so because I'm serving it tomorrow.
Su
You can make the cookie with a spoon, and the whipped cream with a whisk or hand-held beater or whatever you use to make whipped cream! It's frustrating to see NYT Cooking tell readers to use a stand mixer for simple tasks that can easily be done with a spoon, especially when so many folks don't have this large, heavy, expensive piece of equipment.
Patricia
@Bflnyc, I would think that your idea would work just fine to make a ginger icebox cake, and it would be faster. However, this is made pumpkin shortbread as a Thanksgiving alternative to other pumpkin desserts, I'm guessing. It sounds delish, and worth a try and a comment, please, from someone who's made it?
Audrey W
I ran a thin rubber spatula around the edges of the cookies and then popped out of the pans with no problem at all. I haven't tasted it yet (except for a spoonful of the whipped cream... yum!) but I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Murphy
Following the recipe and using butter knife to remove the cookie from an unoiled pan without parchment paper ended up damaging the pan, so I suggest parchment paper or a spring form pan to anyone reading this.
Katherine
Easy and delicious. Used decaf coffee to make it more kid friendly, though there is not a strong coffee flavor when it all comes together. I also cut oversized squares of parchment paper to line the pans, so the corners were sticking up after pressing in the dough, and that made lifting the cookies out of the pan very simple.
Peg
Cooked exactly as directed and this was the most talked about dish from my Thanksgiving. I ended up using closer to 1/4 cup of pumpkin based on preference. Based on the comments about the cookie, I baked the shortbread in a 9" springform pan and had no issues with keeping the cookie intact. Ended up assembling and serving the cake in the springform pan.
Real Chicago Mama
This was the hit of our midwestern Thanksgiving 2023! Followed recipe exactly as written, including making my own pumpkin pie spice and assembling and chilling 24-36 hours in advance.
Aari
Any reason the big cookies can’t be baked on a sheet pan? I’d trace 9” pans on parchment (back side) & put the dough within the shape. You could do this to make smaller individual ones too.
Peg
I would think this so. The cookie doesn't spread much while baking.
Martha
Has anyone tried an alternative to coffee for a more kid-friendly version?
stephanie
This was amazing! Might make it again for a Thanksgiving dessert.
Rob B
Have made this a couple times. It never hurts to increase the amount of whipped cream you add to the layers of the cake.
Liz
Is it okay to leave out the coffee?
Audrey W
I think the cookie would not soften sufficiently to make it easy to cut. I think it would be interesting to substitute an herbal tea.
C
Given how often the reviews mentioned how difficult it was to extract the cookies from the cake pans, I opted to use a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, which made removing the cookie in one piece an absolute breeze.
Spencer Richards
I found this recipe delightful. Satisfied everyone’s pumpkin craving since we are not pumpkin pie lovers. I found I needed more of the pumpkin whipped cream than was called for (I doubled)—not only to make elegant billowy swirls on top, but to have a little left over to spoon directly into my mouth. I also made my own pumpkin pie spice mixture (recipe found online)since I didn’t have Pumpkin Pie Spice, but I definitely had cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg.
Allison Williams
Maybe I need extra help but I would have appreciated you noting to either use parchment paper or lightly oil the cake pan. I didn't and ended up with a pan full of crumbs and cookie pieces after scraping it out of the pan. Overall, I thought this was a goo but somewhat bland. Will waiting 12 hours really enhance the flavor that much? I hope so because I'm serving it tomorrow.
Zing's Mom
I greased the bottom and sides of two 9-inch pans, then lined each with parchment paper. I then greased the cookie side of the parchment paper. Doing so did help ease the cookies out of the pans when finished, but the shortbread is extremely crumbly. One cookie broke into thirds; the other basically came out whole.Next time, I'll enlist DH's help when doing this part.
judi
Just made this and put it in the fridge until tomorrow. It looks like it will taste fantastic. The whipped cream mixture is lovely! I did find it easier to brush on the coffee rather than spoon it, as it was starting to run off the cookie before it started to soak in. Also, I added a tablespoon of Kahlua to the coffee for a bit of extra kick. Question: what type of knife would you recommend to cut it so it doesn’t collapse while serving?
Margaret in Dallas
No dairy over here (TTC). What about whipping dairy free yogurt to the proper consistency for the whipping cream? Ideas, thoughts?
Private notes are only visible to you.
